1954 Episode of the rare Classic TV show "Sense and Nonsense", a low-budget kids game show produced by WABD, the New York City owned-and-operated station of the DuMont Television Netwrk. This episode features original commercials for Coca-Cola "in the bottle". In this game show, contestants had to identify objects while blind-folded. This appears to be the only surviving episode.


This movie is part of the collection: Classic TV

Production Company: WABD
Audio/Visual: sound, Black and White
Keywords: Classic TV; Sense and Nonsense; DuMont Television Network; DuMont Network; 1954; Game Show; Kids Show; Old Time Television; Coca-Cola; Coke;

Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 6,322 times Reviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: mysticx0 - - March 16, 2010
Subject: Peggy O'Hara
i cant seem to find any info on her...but wow she is hot!

and no one noticed who the guy is playing the game? its Leonard Frey long before he became a famous actor and an outspoken gay rights activist.

and the guy helping, Ed Krinsky, should be known to any basketball fan in the world whether it be the ABA or the USBL or all the stars that made it to the NBA from him.

Reviewer: Cevad - - February 17, 2009
Subject: A TRUE Classic
This has to be one of the best examples of "local television" I've seen on the archive! The acting scene is so horrible that it's entertaining! Maybe it's because everything is better with Coke "in a bottle"! Can they say "in a bottle" again? I forgot it the first time. The only thing Coke did better was Santa Claus and the Polar Bears. Ummm...ummm.... fruit.....peaches....pears.... I love this show! DuMont should still be around kicking the butts of the networks we have now!!

Reviewer: Classic_TV_and_Radio_Fan - - December 29, 2008
Subject: BEST TV NETWORK EVER
This WABD broadcast is pretty much a DuMont production, since everybody involved was a DuMont Network employee, it was telecast from DuMont's studios, features DuMont-style production quirks, and WABD was DuMont flagship station (In other words, had DuMont itself lasted longer, this could of aired nationally on DuMont). This is from 1954, DuMont folded 1956.

Reviewer: jonel469 - - December 28, 2008
Subject: Delightful
I hope there is a special place in Hell for the people responsible for dumping the DuMont shows, what a loss.

Reviewer: BoPo Bellsinger - - October 29, 2008
Subject: Fashions on Parade
Wait, WHO was the sponsor? musta missed that.

OH, I so wish there were more DuMont programs for us to view.

Thanks to the poster who mentioned the actor from "Boys in the Band" and to the one who nailed down the actual date of this broadcast.

OK: am looking for ANY info on a DuMont show called "Fashions on Parade". other than what I can glean from wikipedia. i'd LOVE to see a clip of this one!

Reviewer: Seto-Kaiba_Is_Stupid - - August 19, 2008
Subject: Lovely
This broadcast is lovely.

Reviewer: Archive fan - - August 10, 2008
Subject: Wow.
I was prepared to see a lame low-budget early TV game show and was blown away by this half hour. What energy! The program starts at an ultra high level and proceeds hell-bent-for leather right to the end. And it looks like it cost ten cents to put on. I hope the host got a decent paycheck, he's working like a animal from beginning to end -- it's live TV and he's getting sponges in the face, singing musical numbers, guiding the kids, running the contests and spouting out the rules, doing commercials, and dragging large props and his slightly clueless cohost around ("I'll help with that, Carol"). I love when he says, about three quarters of the way through the broadcast, that they're running late. Impossible, but things barrel along even faster! Throw in a balloon act, an actual auto driving onto the stage, live music, and an audience of kids jacked up on Coca Cola and it's mayhem from start to finish. And they did this Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? It's a testament to pure creativity, adrenaline and talent trimumphing over no money and early TV technology. If I can site one trait of most of the surviving DuMont material I've seen, it's got to be "personality." Sorry I wasn't around to see the network in person and that so little of it was preserved.

Reviewer: UNKLEKENKNEE RIDES AGAIN - - July 30, 2008
Subject: A STAR IS BORN!
The young man who unfortunatly winds up wearing that God awful baloon animal swan hat is none other than Lenord Frey...future star of BOYS IN THE BAND!!!and by the way was gay...he's passed on now..
After seeing this campy game show and realizing who this boy was , it added a whole new slant on what was going on..for instance watching the older man blow up long phallic ballons in front of the kid and then of all things making a girlie swan hat and crowning him with it.
I felt bad for the kid .
Also and most importantly if you can see "boys in the band"..Leonord Frey is verry good in the role.

Reviewer: Retro_Saiyan - - July 30, 2008
Subject: Charming 50's Kids Show
Pretty typical of a low-budget 50's TV series, aired on DuMont flagship station WABD, now known as WNYW. Although it only aired on one DuMont station, it still was a DuMont production, and has typical DuMont Network quirks and use of awesome gimmicks. The UCLA has both a 16mm Kinescope of this broadcast, and 2 Videotape copies. Anyway, This is quite an enjoyable broadcast! Too bad it's the sole surviving episode.

Reviewer: Robin_1990 - - April 16, 2008
Subject: I Uploaded This
Nice little local TV show from the 50's. A good example of what kids TV used to be like.

Reviewer: janepowellfanclub - - April 15, 2008
Subject: Simple but magical
I really enjoyed watching this show and especially the attitude of the youngsters who enjoyed such simple entertainment as seeing Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer made from balloons. When I see shows like this it makes me realise how the kids of today have lost the joy of simple fun. Great show.

Reviewer: Eight Bit Bandit - - March 3, 2008
Subject: This Day in History
First, the technical stuff: The live Coke ad midway through the program references a (Coca-Cola themed) party George Washington's birthday, with "the whole weekend ahead of us" to plan for it. That implies that this episode was on a Friday, and, working from that, that would mean that this is actually an artifact from February 19, 1954.

Wow!

I never get over how odd live TV shows look. You don't see them much anymore - really, the only things taped live anymore are local news, late night talk shows, and "Saturday Night Live". There's a delightful randomness in live TV - for instance, watch the female co-host when the balloon guy is doing his thing. For one fleeting instant on that day in 1954, a "what the heck?" look passed across her face and was gone. Now, through the magic of the Internet, we can relive it again and again.

In fact, everything about this show is wonderful. The contestants are hilarious (though I hope any of them who are still alive never, ever see this tape) and the very premise of this show is itself pretty goofy. My favorite part is when the kid from Brooklyn, in a rush to identify the substance placed in his mouth, yells "FOOD!"

I love this clip, and indeed I have yet to see anything I didn't like coming out of the DuMont network. I beseech whoever uploaded this to upload an MPEG1 copy so I can burn a hi-def copy on DVD.

Reviewer: 78rpmnut - - February 10, 2008
Subject: Fun times!
This show as a little bit of everything!

Comedy,Music, audience participation and of course it is a game show with school kid contestants. Real people with real Brooklyn accents. And one of the contestants is named Esther November (they picked her because of the name).

And it's sponsored by Coke. In Bottles!!